Warren Buffett apparently spends up to six hours a day reading. Although few in the world of private equity have the luxury of time, the smart ones still make time to read.
We quizzed some friends of PitchBook about the books they most enjoyed this year.
Béla Szigethy and Stewart Kohl, co-CEOs of lower-middle-market buyout shop, The Riverside Company
“Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business” by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia
“Free enterprise ain’t free and there won’t be much to enterprise about if we don’t do a better job of making the system work for more people. Capitalism lifted billions out of poverty, created extraordinary working and middle classes and made millionaires out of many others. But a majority of American’s don’t believe in it anymore and as the authors proclaim, we need to ‘celebrate and elevate’ our practice of it.”
“After the Roof Caved In: An Immigrant’s Journey from Ireland to America” by Michael Dowling and Charles Kenney
“What Michael Dowling, CEO of [nonprofit healthcare provider] Northwell Health has accomplished is legendary. And he did it coming from a mud hut in Ireland, the son of a deaf-but-gifted mother and an understandably depressed father, and working as a Stevedore on the docks of NYC. At this time, when immigration is questioned, this is a valuable reminder of what Lin-Manuel Miranda tells us in ‘Hamilton': ‘We’re immigrants. We get the job done.’”
Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of PE firm and hedge fund SkyBridge Capital
“When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy” by David Margolick
“Brilliantly explains the golden age of television comedy and celebrates the king of all comic sketches, Sid Caesar. It is a nostalgic romp through a simpler, more confident time in America that recalls an era of shared optimism.”
“A Voyage Around the Queen” by Craig Brown
“Masterful dissertation on Queen Elizabeth II’s life and her steadfast, classy decorum during a period of profound change in her family and country.”
Leor Landa, head of investment management with law firm Davis Polk
“The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge” by David McCullough
“An amazing storyteller uses the building of the Brooklyn Bridge as a lens into the politics, power struggles and society of New York City in the 19th Century. McCullough weaves technical details of the bridge—thought unbuildable at the time—with the life and times of the people who designed and built it.”
“Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI” by Yuval Noah Harari
“A wide-lens history of how the flow of information has shaped humanity across societies and millennia. Harari has an uncanny ability to find connecting threads that are shared across the human experience.”
Reed Van Gorden, managing director and head of origination at lower-middle-market credit firm Deerpath Capital
“Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life” by Bill Perkins
“Perhaps most importantly, this read was recommended by my wife, Shiyi Van Gorden! Despite the title, this book does not recommend that you to die with $0 in the bank account. Rather, it tells you to spend when and where it makes the largest impact—spend quality time with your children, take that second vacation this year, support your child’s first home purchase instead of waiting to pass on your wealth after you’re gone.”
“Buffett and Munger Unscripted: Three Decades of Investment and Business Insights from the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting” by Alex Morris
"[Morris] listened to every available BRK annual meeting and compiled key takeaways, insights, and quotes, then organized the ideas by theme to write this almanac. A key takeaway from the book is the significance of continuous learning. As Charlie Munger remarked about Warren Buffett, ‘He keeps learning. That’s one of his tricks.’ In my opinion, it should be mandatory reading for all investors and all senior executives!”
Paul Aversano, managing director and global practice leader of A&M’s global transaction advisory group
“The CEO Next Door” by Elena Botelho, Kim Powell and Tahl Raz
“This book is a great read. It draws on decades of real-world experience and firsthand data from a broad group of successful CEOs to challenge the notion that leadership is an innate skill. Instead, it shows that top performance is driven by learnable behaviors and repeatable habits grounded in evidence rather than personality.
“Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead & Win” by Jocko Willink
The best part of this book is how the authors, two consultants and former U.S. Navy SEALs, translate military leadership principles into concrete case studies from their consulting work, showing how accountability and execution function in real organizational settings.”
Michael Bego, managing partner at secondaries firm Kline Hill Partners
“Manxmouse: The Mouse Who Knew No Fear” by Paul Gallico
“I suggest this book as a break from business tomes, historical period pieces, and self-help encyclopedias. I’ve read a handful of pages to my daughter every few nights and would suggest it is a great one to read to kids of maybe 6-10 years old. ‘Manxmouse’ is the story of a peculiar ceramic mouse—accidentally created by a tipsy potter. Coming magically to life, the fearless Manxmouse embarks on epic adventures across England, encountering foxes, elephants, a circus tiger, and others who warn him of his prophesied fate: to be eaten by the fearsome Manx Cat.”
Izzet Bensusan, CEO and founder of decarbonization and energy transition investor Captona
“Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology” by Chris Miller
“I like ‘Chip War’ because it shows how semiconductors quietly became the most strategic resource in the modern world, shaping geopolitics, national security, and economic power. It connects technology to policy and history in a way that makes supply chains feel as consequential as armies. The book fundamentally changed how I think about innovation, dependency, and global competition.”
“A Little History of Philosophy” by Nigel Warburton
“I like ‘A Little History of Philosophy’ because it traces how humanity has wrestled with the same core questions across centuries, even as societies, languages, and formats of philosophy constantly change. It highlights how methods of thinking evolve while the underlying uncertainties about meaning, truth, and ethics remain remarkably persistent. The book is a reminder that despite all progress, we are still circling many of the same fundamental questions.”
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